


Mirror, Mirror

by anesor



Series: Star Wars Snippets [17]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: AU, AU of 'Darkness on Umbara', Gen, force vision
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21734815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anesor/pseuds/anesor
Summary: Anakin Skywalker is very unsettled when he must leave his troops behind to return to the Core.  He gets even more unsettled when his mirror starts talking to him...
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Series: Star Wars Snippets [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/930086
Comments: 8
Kudos: 105
Collections: Shadows of the Saber (NaNo 2019 Star Wars short fiction collection)





	Mirror, Mirror

As his mind drifted he worried about leaving his men on Umbara. A big push was due, and he worried they’d get killed without his being there. Krell was brought in, an experienced General, but Obi-Wan was the only General he trusted to take care of the 501st  if he was away. But orders came down their men would take different missions.

Anakin wanted to have leave time with his wife, but he was being called back to the Core, wasting time he could have been winning victories. He also felt bad to be safe and away being useless while they died.

He looked into the foggy mirror, only half-awake. Travel time back to Coruscant from where the action was, seemed to take forever, a week cutting every corner. He’d have a couple of days to sleep and lie around, a couple days to fiddle with repairs and every day he’d be all antsy with wanting to _do_ something.

Cleaning and patching his robes took up _s_ _ome_ time, enough that Padmé wouldn’t worry. He washed with extra care, scrounging creams and soaps from the cabinet. Padmé wasn’t that fond of scruffy.

Anakin left that to his old Master.

He ran his left hand over his face as he checked for missed stubble by touch and in the mirror. The few times he let it grow, it just looked bad, sparse and irregular. That might just pass in time, but he didn’t want to look like some scruffy nerf-herder for his wife now.

“What’s happening to my men?” Anakin said out loud, checking that one spot on his chin that resisted being shaved.

“They are being herded into a cross-fire situation with the 212th.” A stranger’s voice said.

Anakin froze, looking in the mirror and casting about in the Force. No one else was visible in the mirror and no one was on his transport.

“What the kriff do you mean by that?” He accused.

The Force swelled around him like deep water tide rising and the face in the mirror spoke again, venomously. “Pong Krell has Fallen and no one’s noticed or cared. He’s setting the 501st and 212th against each other in a slaughter with lies, getting as much gratification as if both units were droids...”

Anakin realized his refection moved like he was the one talking. He reached up just to touch his lips, just to make sure he wasn’t speaking somehow.

But the speaker finished in the mirror even if Anakin was sure his lips weren’t moving.

“I won’t listen to some Sith-damned magic!” Anakin snarled.

“Foolish child.” The voice was deeper and had pauses that seemed habit more than needed for speech. “Listen to the Force. Your men are being traumatized while you _bow and scrape_ for the elite.”

Angry at the possibility, at the strength of the warning he felt in the Force, Anakin ran to the cockpit and threw his ship out of Jump. If it was wrong, he’d lose a few hours.

If it was right…

Setting up an encrypted channel to Umbara and Obi-Wan, he muttered in Huttese as he waited.

“Charming as ever, Anakin. Is your message urgent…?” A series of explosions went off closer than Anakin liked as Obi-Wan spoke in audio only. He was running or fighting, his saber audible.

“Master, pull back now! That’s the 501 st  you’re fighting. Krell’s gone bad.”

The High General swore something obscure and started shouting orders.

“One more thing, Master. I’m coming back right _now,_ but...”

“Understood,”Obi-Wan said briefly and cut the channel after his blocking a blaster shot could be heard.

Whatever Krell did, Anakin could override, he was the higher ranked General and Obi-Wan might get injured trying to halt the fighting.

_He was going to kill that Sith-lover. Once for every Vod he got killed with this betrayal._

Anakin’s transport was already back in Jump when he remembered the voice in the mirror. Moving back to the small fresher, he saw all the abandoned products and nothing strange in the mirror.

Cleaning up, he almost had to laugh at the strange vision he’d had. Checking that spot on his chin, it still wasn’t clean. It left his skin itchy, but the depilatory would get it better and longer than shavers. “Wonder if there’s a better one out there?”

“Probably, but it will not matter for that much longer.” The male voice answered him.

“Alright, who are you? How the kriff do you know these things?” Anakin glared around, wishing he could set Artoo to a full systems check to remove the hidden comm. “Are you working with that karking sleemo?”

“Hardly. I would thoroughly relish amputating his limbs a finger length at a time, leaving just enough for interrogation.” Humor was clear.

And a little creepy.

Enough like what _he_ wanted to do, to leave Anakin unsettled. “You still didn’t say who you are, who you work for.”

“I work for no one now, only myself.” A dark smile was clear in the voice. “I cannot tell you some things, but you have no secrets from me.”

Panic grabbed Anakin’s heart. He had so many secrets.

He knew he had _too many._

The ‘fearless’ Skywalker was deathly afraid of losing everything if his secrets came out: his Angel, his Master, his Padawan, his men, and being a Jedi and helping people.

“Are you gonna blackmail me?” Anakin asked in a tiny voice.

The stranger’s face that looked like Anakin scoffed. “There is nothing you can _give_ me that would make my life better.”

Anakin wasn’t sure he believed that, but the words rang true in the reflection. He thought for a long moment and asked, “Are you my father?”

The other stared at him in shock. He nearly shouted, “No!” and waved his hand like Anakin had seen too many Darksiders do.

But nothing happened, nothing like Ventress choking him or being thrown back.

With a deeper breath, Anakin noted, “You are a Darksider, though, aren’t you?”

“I have been a Jedi. I have been a Sith. I am balanced now, even if it is... too late for me.” The tiniest of smiles came and went.

“That leaves the Count out, he’s insane isn’t he?”

“His Master nurtures insanity and pain in his apprentices. Dooku will soon be discarded.” The mirror-Anakin wheezed for a moment without noticing, face covered with burned skin and with only wisps of hair.

Anakin glared. “Then you know who the Sith Master is! Who is it?”

The other calmed, his appearance back to Anakin’s. “I can speak the truths I know, but I cannot speak the truth you would not hear. You know enough, if you truly gave up your attachment to see clearly.”

“I karking hate riddles!” Gripping the sink, Anakin growled. “Well, you said it was a he, that knocks a lot of people off the list, doesn’t it?”

“True. No one could possibly suspect your wife. I cannot play some children’s guessing game. Your time is limited.”

 _A_ _nakin_ needed to prioritize. His men needed him now, then he could worry about his friend, the Chancellor's, disappointment. Anakin didn’t want any vacation that cost _ **his** _ men their lives.

The two days to return seemed to take forever, nothing helped the time pass.

When he landed in the same clearing he departed from, he saw the damage they’d taken in wrecked equipment and bandages on too many. Interspersed were a few of the 212th and he hurried to where Obi-Wan was.

His Master smiled weakly from the bed where it seemed like Kenobi had been strapped in. Skin red from low grade burns, Obi-Wan looked tired and dejected.

“You didn’t know, Obi-Wan. How many did we lose?”

“Perhaps twenty percent before I changed tactics. Shifting to stunning attacks clued your Commanders that there was a problem. Mutiny is never a welcome event, but that truly was the best outcome. I ordered all released but the Commanders until you returned.”

“Good. What happened with Krell that made him betray us?”

“I don’t know. He tried to lead a charge, but your men held back while I confronted him. Nor would he stand down on the order of a High General or Council Member. Most of what he said was gibberish that the Vod weren’t even sentient. Cody made a nice recording, I believe.”

Anakin had to shake his head. “I can’t even see why anyone would want to do this.”

“I hope you never do, Padawan mine.”

Cleanup took days, the civilians were even more confused and frightened that a General and troops had gone rogue. Dogma and other Vod who’d questioned Krell got commendations, and he made sure to recommend that all Vod got refreshers on unlawful orders. Still the younger General was careful not to mention the voice in his mirror.

As Obi-Wan successfully resisted a dip in the bacta tank, Anakin rode herd on him on his flagship.

Better to avoid his mirror.

Anakin covertly watched him sleep as he pretended to work on reports. “Wonder if we’ll ever know why.”

“Best estimates are that it was solely to terrorize civilians into distrust the GAR and generals. Perhaps to curry favor, he had the air of a suck-up looking for a Sith. Much political power flows from fear, and power gathers, ready for the Sith Master to seize.”

It was the raspy voice again, seeming to come from Obi-Wan, though the Master still deeply slept.

“I thought I left you on the _Resolute.”_ Anakin crossed his arms.

“Close enough. I am _your_ ghost, you have only a few ways to escape me.”

“Great. I’ll bet you can’t or won’t tell me.”

That smug smile looked so different and wrong as Obi-Wan slept deeply.

“What can you tell me?”

“I can tell you what I know to be true, though that is fuzzy on some edges as I’m not omniscient like Force ghosts can become. You must ask, admit you don’t know all the answers. Some things I don’t know or the Force says you are not ready to hear. Don’t waste our time on frivolous questions...”

“Where’s Artoo?”

“In the Temple hanger snarking at Ful… your Padawan.” It looked like Obi-Wan being awkward for a moment.

Anakin wracked his brain for something he didn’t know. “Does _he_ love me?”

Obi-Wan looked shocked, and then answered in surprise. “Yes, he does deeply, more than any other in his life except possibly Master Qui-Gon.”

Two surprises there. One that this voice knew that somehow when Obi-Wan concealed it so well from even him. The other that this Sith knew Master Qui-Gon well enough to refer to him this familiarly.

Obi-Wan began to stir, and Anakin moved to sit by the bed and take his hand.

Because he could, because he wanted to feel Obi-Wan in a personal way.

His Master twitched as Anakin sent affection through their quiet bond.

But he did not withdraw his hand.

“I worry about you. Obi-Wan. You’re such a target for every darksider we find, not sure why if everyone is convinced I’m some Chosen One. I’m afraid you’ll reject me for the stupid things I’ve done.”

Obi-Wan’s eyes had drifted open as Anakin fumbled his words. “I’m afraid you would have to do something massively Dark without regret for me to even consider rejecting you. I might get irritated or angry, but there is no one I trust more-”

Then he loosened his grasp and slid his hand up to grasp Anakin’s arm below the elbow like Vode did.

That felt even more solid than holding hands and Anakin grinned with relief. Wanting to know, he asked, “What would he do if I told him about Padmé?”

Before Obi-Wan’s face even changed, the stranger’s voice scoffed. “Tell his precious Council, of course.”

Now, Obi-Wan’s face changed with multiple emotions and he coughed. “Setting _that_ opinion aside, I am quite aware my Padawan is involved with the Senator. I have heard enough comments from the Council about it as well, probably as the Vode gossip as much as the Order. I would be more uncomfortable about deception than the subject.” He paused. “I doubt I would do anything, it is a Knight’s responsibility to adhere to the Code as best he can, the Council demands sincere effort in remaining unbiased in their duties.”

Anakin’s face contorted enough that he could feel it. “So, I’ve been panicking over _nothing?”_

“That does depend on the extent of your involvement. But there have been Knights and Masters under censure for a variety of offenses. Like many other problems, negotiating openly smooths issues more than fighting. Not really discussed are two married Masters, but they must walk a fine line to show they are unbiased.”

Dawning joy nearly exploded from Anakin’s heart. “I might be married and not have to leave?” He could live with being scolded, that was _nothing_ new.

Obi-Wan gripped his arm tightly again. “You did marry the lady?”

Anakin flushed and wanted to rip his arm away. “Y- y- yes. A-after Geonosis?”

That made the Master snort. “Perhaps I should have allowed that betting pool, you were rather obvious that day.” The humor was more reassuring than the betting.

The future stretched out again for Anakin…

“And on a pragmatic level, the war effort needs you, so censure is quite limited when off Coruscant. Negotiating sooner would be far better than later, I’d suggest meeting with Master Plo or Master Ki-Adi-Mundi, I must remain in a neutral stance if you need my vote on anything.”

Anakin couldn’t even speak to thank him.

After a few minutes, Obi-Wan’s hand gripped Anakin one more time and then pulled away. “I am more concerned by this voice that answers questions.”

Sitting back, Anakin admitted. “I don’t know. He first told me about Krell’s actions. He says I have no secrets from him. But he seemed surprised when I asked something about you.” He looked away. “He doesn’t like Dooku and claims to know who the Sith Master is. He was a Jedi once and was a Sith, but says he’s neither now.”

“That seems almost an impossibility. Was he the Apprentice after Maul disappeared for years? A failed rival for the ill-natured Count?”

Anakin seemed to stop and measure his words. “Gotta be careful with phrasing. Ask a question and my reflection or a sleeping General answers… I might ask, but he seems more interested in blocking the Sith Master and said we’re running out of time several times.”

“Will he answer questions I ask?”

The two Jedi waited in silence.

“I suppose you could ask what would be the most dangerous active plans the Master has in motion? Is there a link to Krell?”

That made Anakin sigh. “He already told me he _never_ knew why Krell betrayed his men...”

Kenobi paled and grabbed Anakin’s prosthetic. “Past tense, Anakin. He is not anchored in time as we are. Like on Mortis, perhaps?”

“The Unifying Force is… you know it more. You remember Mortis and I… don’t remember much clearly.”

“Ask now, by a mirror if it is easier.”

Anakin’s face twitched, but he moved to the tinier fresher and speaking clearly. “What are the most important things I can do to block the Sith Master? Are you real?”

The lower and measured voice spoke. “As real as you, boy. But your Master is correct to be suspicious of Sith involvements. I am as real as the four you met there. But I will not remain to advise much longer. Use that time wisely.”

Anakin projected alarm. “Is this… what ever this is killing you? I can get by without getting you killed if you’re helping us.”

The reflected Anakin squared his stance and crossed his arm, eyes full of contempt. He might not have realized he rolled his eyes, it was so quick. _“I told you before_ it was too late for me. I… joined the Force, but not quite in any proper fashion. If you must be dense, boy, at least do not waste my time.”

“How can Anakin block the Master?” Obi-Wan suggested.

When Anakin repeated the question, the reflection made another face.

That made Anakin grin.

The reflection silently sighed where only Anakin could see and made a rude gesture at him.

Delight erupted from Skywalker and he started to laugh.

The deep voice puffed from smoke damage and the reflection lost greasy curls and became burned wisps again. “The Clones have slave chips, Rex might know more. I do not. Time is short and control is fast. The kri- Council will badly underestimate the Master when they attempt to arrest him. The combat weak will fall like wheat and Yoda will not defeat him. Council egos cannot be trusted and the Master will play you all with deception and lies. Every word is deception for power...”

The reflection met Anakin’s eyes in a glare, eyes flaring yellow-red of Sith. Another wheezing breath and he told Anakin. “Remember this well. Everything he has offered ended in destruction for those he seemed to help. The monstrosity of Maul. The insanity of reform from destruction for Dooku. The peace of cyborg detachment of the weapon Grievous. Even the eroding of the assassin Ventress. The complacent Republic will lose everything that should have been important. All he offers are phantasms and pain.”

“What did he offer you?” Anakin asked.

“Life. But he lied and they died.” The reflection seemed to take a blue tinge in his hair and lose the blue to grow more transparent.

Anakin grit his teeth. “I need to know _who._ Who’s the Master? We can’t even gather evidence...”

“The Force will be with you always...”

“Kriff that!” Anakin shouted. “Of course it will. You’re part of the Force and here now. That’s just empty words and not useful. What’s the clue we need?” The Force swelled, almost strobing Light and Dark as Anakin _demanded_ more.

The Anakin in the mirror seemed to grow taller and darker, hair gone, skin burned as he glared out of the fresher. “You would not believe even now. He has wrapped you, wrapped everyone in honeyed concern that rots underneath.”

“How _long_ has he been wrapping me in lies?” Anakin insisted after Kenobi suggested it quietly.

In the mirror, the maimed Anakin convulsed, growing more and more transparent. “W-who? He has been kindly for years and years. So many years of poison...”

Anakin could see almost completely through the reflection and moved his hand up to be sure he was not fading.

Reflection almost gone, the voice rose in pitch into a vocoder squawk. “Sith never bleed for another.”

As soon as he said that he shrank again and the transparency became blue like a holo and he faded away.

* * *

Obi-Wan seemed to be thinking. “Whatever he was, I believe he is gone now.”

Anakin was feeling sick. Someone he trusted, someone who was kind but wasn’t underneath. Was charming to everyone, even Ventress slowed for that weird flirting. Maybe that mask was fake, a false victim. Knew him a long time, no one he knew, knew Anakin longer except Padmé. Telling him those clues wiped him out or something…

“Why don’t you come in here so we can talk, Anakin? Whoever he is- was, we have the pieces and I am quite alarmed about chips.”

Dragging his feet in reluctance, Anakin returned to take a seat by the bed.

“Perhaps meditation will help up put this together?”

That made Anakin roll his eyes.

A knock at the door and Kix came in to check on Obi-Wan and fuss about his injuries from the battle with Krell for a few minutes. Obi-Wan waved him away and Kix seemed relieved he did not have to argue before he left.

Realization let Anakin breathe again. Obi-Wan had bled for the Vode, for him, for just about _anyone. It couldn’t be him._

Obi-Wan hummed. “I’m afraid I cannot find more than one candidate who fits those hints. People who know you well for ‘years and years’ is a very short list. And I doubt any Senator or world leader you see yearly or less could be poisoning you with words. True, Krell Fell, but you did not meet him at all until recently. The same pretty much holds true for the entire Temple, we had many missions.”

Not wanting to take the next step despite warnings, Anakin asked, “Dex??”

“We could do a covert mitichlorian count, but that doesn’t feel right. He’s had enemies. I know you’re friends, but the Chancellor has gained so much power...”

Anakin jerked a rejection but held it in, crouching into the chair.

Kenobi sighed with worry and held Anakin’s shoulder for a moment. “One thing we can check right away was his comment about Rex. Interesting he did not give the designation.”

Glad of the new topic, Rex was called to the Sickbay.

“Generals,” he greeted them, a little uneasy to not salute them despite their often stated wishes.

Kenobi and Skywalker exchanged glances, neither speaking for a moment.

Kenobi twitched a hand. “After meditation and… reflections from the Force, we are hoping you might enlighten us if you know anything about a chip in the men, and why it might be a problem?”

Rex ticked guiltily and then straightened. “After the incident with Tup, some of us did some checking. Fives would never have even thought of attacking the Chancellor like it was officially reported. If some chip going bad was the source of it, how many of us were bombs waiting to detonate? I… we didn’t want that, no matter what the long-necks said. A few of us had them removed and none of us have shown any disloyal changes…

“I do not want mine replaced, sirs.” Rex did not want to beg.

Kenobi’s unrest was clear to the Captain by his hiding part of his face with his hand.

Skywalker had gotten very pale as the Vod spoke, and his eyes huge in his face. Then he flushed with rage and started shaking with his anger. Medical equipment rattled or rose from where it was sitting. The Huttese cursing was more than casual this time.

The Captain held himself stiffly, worried the Generals would insist the chip’s replacement.

General Kenobi made a hand gesture. “At ease, Captain. We have no concerns about your service. We would appreciate consulting with the… surgeon if they would contact us.”

Rex took a deeper breath, very relieved they approved. But then, these Jedi cared, and earned their loyalty over and over. “Thank you, sir.”

Even before the Vod left, Obi-Wan swung himself upright and patted the bed beside him. “I had forgotten that incident in the press of war. How many other warnings have we missed?”

Anakin plopped beside him to embrace his former Master and buried his head into the shorter man’s shoulder, shaking in rage and tears. “I thought he cared for me… that I could tell him anything without being judged!”

Returning the embrace and petting curls, Kenobi was stiff for the first few seconds. “I am so sorry if that is what you believed of me. We all must learn self-discipline and it was not easy for me either. I never judged you as lesser than _anyone,_ it is the deep secret of Masters that we all become attached to our Padawans as much to our own Masters. The detachment you… hate, is to minimize any personal judgment of the many peoples we are sent to help. We don’t always achieve that ourselves, you know I have difficulties with Maul’s people. I want you to be better than me.”

A sniffle came from Anakin. “Mom said that once too.”

“Any Master or parent who does not want that for their youngling is not worthy.”

Some minutes passed with the room being quiet. Anakin finally spoke, voice still muffled against the other’s robes. “That story that Fives tried to kill him was true after all.”

“From a certain viewpoint. Fives would have killed his plans.”

Anakin’s head finally came up, still blotchy. “Maybe he thought killing him would solve the proble… then they could not know who benefited from the chip or why. They had less to reason backward than we do now.”

Rex and Kix arrived, the medic wary, but after speaking about the many risks of surgery, especially cost in time and secrecy the Generals would test a less surgical solution while Kenobi was still secluded by injuries.

Anakin’s eyes got the light of one of his crazy battle plans as he spoke of using the Force to slice and disable chips as a group.

Kenobi held on to his Padawan beside him and wondered if Anakin would ever let himself realize just who the refection had been, who had been a Jedi and a Sith before he faded away.

**Author's Note:**

> Got story idea from a prompt I found during Nano. I almost decided to call it 'Vader, Vader on the Wall' but Anakin keep a bit of obliviousness.
> 
> \--  
> Star Wars is the property of George Lucas and Disney. No infringement is intended and no profit is made from this fanfiction.
> 
> No permission is granted to repost this story.


End file.
